DRIVER ORDERED TO TRIAL IN FATAL CRASH

Man to be tried on 3 counts of murder warned about DUI

A man charged with causing a rollover crash in January that killed three passengers in his SUV was ordered Thursday to stand trial on murder and other felony charges.

A prosecutor argued that William Daniel Cady, 25, had been warned repeatedly about the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and he knew that he was jeopardizing lives by driving too fast.

“The destruction was devastating,” said Deputy District Attorney Makenzie Harvey, referring to how the Cadillac Escalade looked on Jan. 10, after it careened off a freeway interchange near Clairemont and flipped at least five times.

Four of the five passengers in the vehicle were hurled from the SUV.

The prosecutor argued in San Diego Superior Court that Cady had been told to abstain from alcohol and drugs after he was convicted in two misdemeanor domestic violence cases in 2009 and 2011. In 2012, Harvey said, he lost control of a Ford Mustang he was driving at high speed.

There was no evidence that drugs or alcohol were a factor in that crash, Harvey said. The Mustang was a total loss.

Taking that and other arguments into consideration, Judge Lorna Alksne determined that enough evidence had been presented for Cody to be tried on three counts of murder, three counts of gross vehicular manslaughter and DUI causing injury. If convicted, he faces three consecutive terms of 15 years to life in prison.

The crash killed Shon Patrick Gilliam, 23; Taylor Patrick Bednarski, 29, both of San Diego; and Jeffrey Becker, 35, who had recently moved to San Diego from Kern County. Three others, including Cady, were injured.

Cady’s blood was drawn and tested after the crash. An expert testified that the defendant’s blood-alcohol content was .13 to .19 percent at the time he was driving. The legal limit for drivers in California is .08 percent. He also had marijuana in his system.

“He knew he should not have been behind that wheel,” Harvey said. “He had so many chances to say, ‘No.’ ”

Defense lawyer Rick Layon told the judge it was clear from the evidence that the other five people in the SUV were heavily intoxicated, but it was not accurate to say Cady was, too. He pointed to testimony that Cady had one to two beers early that evening and was seen holding a beer later when the group went to a sports bar in Kearny Mesa.

Layon argued the evidence was insufficient to support the murder charges.